Economics and Finance
Economics and finance together offer a powerful set of tools for understanding how the world works. Economics examines how individuals, firms, and governments make decisions, how markets allocate resources, and what drives growth, inequality, and policy outcomes. Finance focuses more specifically on investment, risk, the behaviour of financial markets, and the principles that govern how value is assessed and capital allocated.
Studied together, they provide both the broad analytical framework of economics and the more applied, quantitative focus of finance, making you genuinely versatile as a graduate.
At Keele University, this three-year full-time programme encourages you to investigate the economic behaviour of households, companies, and governments, analyse investor decision-making, and explore the way financial markets operate. The degree includes a sandwich year, giving you the opportunity to work in an economics or finance-related role before your final year, as well as a year abroad at a partner institution overseas. A work placement is also part of the programme.
These features mean that you graduate with substantial professional and international experience alongside your academic training, giving you a real advantage in competitive graduate labour markets. Keele's campus environment and the integrated nature of its academic community support the kind of interdisciplinary thinking the programme encourages.
You will develop quantitative skills in econometrics and financial modelling alongside the theoretical understanding needed to interpret and contextualise the results you produce.
Graduates go on to careers in investment banking, asset management, financial analysis, economic consultancy, the civil service, corporate finance, and policy research. The combination of economic reasoning and financial expertise is sought across every sector that involves data-driven decision-making. Further professional qualifications in finance or economics, or postgraduate study in either field, are common next steps.